Short definition
A featured snippet is a boxed answer Google pulls from a webpage and displays at the top of search results above the standard organic listings.
In depth
Featured snippets typically appear for question queries and show in three formats: paragraph, list, or table. They are powered by clear, direct answers within content; pages structured in question-and-answer form with concise lead paragraphs win them most often. Snippet ownership produces both visibility and authority — and the page that wins a snippet often becomes a source for AI Overviews and voice assistants reading aloud.
Example
An article titled 'How long does it take to rank on Google?' opens with a 48-word direct answer. It captures the featured snippet and triples its click-through rate.